US stocks wobble at the end of another shaky week of trading

Photo: APRobert Oswald

October 19, 2018 06:22 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks gave up an early rally Friday and struggled to another mixed finish as investors continued to sell former favorites like retailers. Household goods makers rose again as a week of choppy trading concluded.

Stocks surged in early trading after better-than-expected reports from companies including Procter & Gamble, American Express and PayPal. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products maker, had its biggest rally in 10 years. But the gains for indexes faded after a report showed U.S. home sales fell for the sixth month in a row. That hurt smaller and more U.S.-focused companies.

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The market settled back into its usual pattern from the last two weeks, as companies that depend on economic growth struggled and those with more "defensive" qualities such as high dividends did better, a sign investors are worried about a few threats to growth: rising interest rates, trade tensions between the U.S. and China, and this week, some sluggish reports about housing construction and sales.

"We don't see too many other yellow or red flags right now, but (housing is) certainly one of them," said Mona Mahajan, U.S. investment strategist for Allianz Global Investors. Mahajan said that company earnings aren't doing much for the stock market right now because investors know the next two quarters should be strong, and they're concerned that growth in 2019 will be worse than expected.

The S&P 500 index lost 1 point to 2,767.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up most of an early gain. It jumped as much as 229 points early on but finished 64.89 points higher, or 0.3 percent, at 25,444.34.

Tuesday was the best gain in six months for U.S. stocks, but the S&P 500 fell every other day this week and ended the week up just 0.02 percent. That was good enough to end a three-week run of losses, but most of the market's recent gains have been swiftly followed by declines.

The S&P 500 hasn't risen two days in a row since Sept. 20. It finished at a record high that day, which was the last in a three-day string of gains. The benchmark index is down 5.6 percent since then.

The Nasdaq composite sagged 36.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,449.03. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 18.71 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,542.04. The Russell 2000 is at its lowest in almost six months as investors worry that the U.S. economy could slow and interest rates could rise, a bigger challenge for smaller companies.

Aerospace and building components maker Honeywell posted a bigger profit than analysts expected, but said it is seeing more signs of inflation in its business as a result of the tariffs the U.S. and China have placed on imported goods. Honeywell slid 1.1 percent to $153.47. Industrial companies have skidded recently as investors worried about the results of those trade tensions.

China said economic growth sank to a post-financial crisis low of 6.5 percent in the third quarter. Chinese finance officials launched a media blitz to shore up confidence in the country's sagging stock market. China's economy has gradually slowed for years, even before a trade dispute between Beijing and U.S. President Donald Trump led to higher tariffs. The Chinese government tightened controls on lending last year to rein in a debt boom, but that, too, has affected the economy.